More Refreshers, Please!

You might be wondering why, when I've got the whole Bible to choose from this evening,

I decided to speak on refreshers.

It wasn't just so I could put some packs of sweets on your pews, but please do feel to

suck or to crunch if it still takes you while I'm speaking.

The reason why I've chosen to speak on this is to do with 2 Timothy.

We've just finished 2 Timothy, and in 2 Timothy there's a character called Onesiphorus.

Onesiphorus, I think, is one of the great unsung heroes of the New Testament.

He's been described as Paul's pastor because he was the man who went to Paul when he was

in prison and who ministered to him.

And I was thinking in a slightly random way that Onesiphorus sounds a bit like Onesimus.

Onesimus is the subject, as you know, of the book of Philemon.

The two names mean much the same thing.

They're people who are profitable.

I then thought, oh, these two men actually have quite a lot of similarities.

They came from fairly close together.

Onesimus was from Colossae, and Onesiphorus was from Ephesus, both in what was then Asia,

the province of Asia, today part of Turkey.

Both men ended up in Rome.

Onesiphorus, perhaps they're in business.

Onesimus, because he had run away from his master Philemon.

Both men, when they were in Rome, met Paul.

Now, not at the same time, because Onesimus was during Paul's first imprisonment in Rome

when he was under house arrest.

Onesiphorus was towards the end when Paul was in trial for his life.

So it was during Paul's second and much more arduous imprisonment.

And Paul wrote very warmly about both of them to Philemon and to Timothy.

And in writing about them, both times Paul wrote about being refreshed.

That eventually got to the point.

Paul wrote about being refreshed.

And I thought, this is something that was obviously really important to Paul.

That these men had refreshed him, and it made quite a big difference to him in difficult circumstances.

I thought, I can't remember ever hearing anyone speaking about being a refresher.

I've heard of people speaking about encouraging, usually using Barnabas as the prime example.

But never heard of anyone speaking about what it means to refresh others.

So I thought, this evening, we'll redress the balance a bit.

We're going to think about the importance of refreshing others.

And we're going to encourage each other to be refreshers.

I'm going to do something that's a little bit different from the normal this evening.

I'm going to name names.

So as we go along, I'm going to mention a few people who I think are really good examples in our church.

Of those who show the characteristics of refreshers.

Now, please don't be offended if I don't mention you.

You may well be as good as anyone else at it.

And it's just I didn't have to think of you.

They're only examples.

But I think it's good to recognize these people.

And we'll come back to that towards the end.

The importance of recognizing other people.

But let's begin with God's word.

We're going to read a few verses from Philemon and then a few verses from 2 Timothy.

If you want to turn to them.

It's Philemon.

Only has one chapter.

So nice and easy.

And we're going to read verse 7 and then from verse 20 onwards.

So Paul writes to Philemon, your love has given me great joy and encouragement because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord's people.

And then he goes on a bit and he has his appeal to Philemon about Onesimus explaining how he's become a Christian, asking him to receive him back.

And in verse 20, he says, I do wish, brother, that I may have some benefit from you in the Lord.

Refresh my heart in Christ.

Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I ask.

So that's Philemon and Onesimus.

Let's move over to 2 Timothy.

2 Timothy chapter 1.

2 Timothy 1 · chapter mention

And just a few verses to talk about Onesiphorus there.

2 Timothy chapter 1.

2 Timothy 1 · chapter mention

I'm reading from verse 16.

And Paul writes,

May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains.

On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me.

May the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day.

You know very well in how many ways he helped me in Ephesus.

Now we will read a few more verses as we go along this evening.

But for the moment, I'm sure God will bless his word to us.

So what does it mean to refresh somebody?

Well, I think the best way to understand that is to understand a little bit about the Greek word that is translated as refresh in our New Testament.

And it's exactly the same Greek word as it's used elsewhere to talk about rest.

Rest.

So rest and refresh, the most common word for refresh in the New Testament, they're the same word.

Now I guess we could say that rest is what I do to myself.

I have a rest.

I go to sleep or whatever.

Refreshment is what I do to somebody else.

I rest them.

I give them rest.

Now sometimes that could be in a literal, physical sense.

That we say to someone, I want to help you in your work for the Lord.

I want to give you a bit of a break from it.

And I'll take over what you're doing for a while.

A true example, a few weeks ago, John Gemmo came to me and he said,

you don't need to come to Friday Fun Zone this evening.

I'll do your door duty for you.

Now I love being at the door at Friday Fun Zone.

It's a great privilege.

But I was quite tired.

There were family reasons why it was quite good to be at home.

And I was really glad of that period of rest.

It wasn't exactly a three-month sabbatical, but it really meant quite a lot to me.

And I think it's really good we all need rest from a Christian activity.

Sometimes we can say to someone, assuming we've got the gifts and the ability to do it,

I'll just take your duty for a short time to give you a rest from it.

But I don't think that's actually the main meaning of the word refresh or what rest means in this context.

It's not rest from work, I'd suggest.

It's rest in work.

So refreshing is about reviving us in the work we're doing.

It is about re-energizing us.

It is about giving us a real peace and a confidence in what we do at a time when we might be flagging,

when we might be finding things a little bit difficult.

And I think rest is different from encouragement in an important sense.

Now, the two are obviously quite related.

Encouragers will also be good refreshers.

But I suggest encouragement is largely something that we focus on with younger Christians.

Christians, we want to encourage younger Christians to serve the Lord and to be involved in service.

And we encourage them to do things.

And we encourage them in the things they do to help them to develop.

And that's great.

And that is a very, very important ministry.

If we think of Barnabas as being the classic example of an encourager, who did he encourage?

He encouraged the young church at Jerusalem when he sold his field.

He encouraged the apostle Paul as he was a young Christian.

He went and got him from Tarsus and took him to Antioch.

He encouraged the young church at Antioch, young Christians there.

He encouraged his nephew John Mark, again a young Christian.

And he didn't give up on him when Mark failed the first time round.

So largely, not entirely, but largely the ministry of encouragement is directed towards younger Christians.

I suggest the ministry of refreshment is more often directed towards those who've been on the road for a while.

We're just starting out in a race.

Then we don't generally need a rest very quickly.

As we're going on, as we've been doing it for quite a long time, at that point we've reached the stage where actually a rest and refreshment is something that we really need.

So I wouldn't make too big a distinction in it, but I think probably refreshment is more helping those who've been on the road for a while to keep going in their ministry.

And hopefully encouragement is helping those who are just starting out in their ministry for the Lord.

Now before we think about these two characters, particularly a few others in the New Testament,

I thought it would be good to think for a few minutes, well why is it that we need refreshers?

Why do we need to be refreshed?

And as we think about this, we're also going to note that refreshment is very much a work of God.

We'll think about what God does over the next few minutes, and then we'll think of some of the examples in the New Testament and one or two from Brunsfield a little bit later on.

So why do we need refreshers?

Well we need refreshers when we're going through times of difficulty.

We have Paul here in 2 Timothy, and he's in prison.

And everyone has deserted him, and he's on trial for his life.

And it really means a lot to him that someone is able to come in and to refresh him and to revitalise and revive him and give him something of the joy of the Lord again.

And in lots of circumstances, we probably need that too when we face problems in our lives.

Not hopefully imprisonment, but if we have problems with illness, with work, with family.

And lots of different situations where something happens in our life, and we think this is making the going really hard for me.

And someone can then come along and help us and refresh us in our time of difficulty.

There's a verse in 2 Peter.

1 Peter 4, where Peter writes,

What does it mean the Spirit rests?

The Spirit's not taking a rest.

The Spirit resting on you, I think, is the Spirit refreshing you, reviving you, revitalising you.

You're being insulted for the name of the Lord.

You're being persecuted in your Christian faith.

And in a very special way, the Spirit is then there with you and helping and encouraging and strengthening you.

And when we go through times of difficulty, it's great to know that alongside our human refreshers,

we have the Spirit of God who is resting on us and who is helping us to get through our time of difficulty.

So we need refreshment because we all have from time to time problems in our lives.

We need refreshers too because we suffer from weariness.

Dale Ralph Davis had a couple of expressions I quite liked to do with this.

He says,

Most Christians aren't run over, but they're quite often run down.

In other words, we don't have all these big crises sometimes in our lives,

but for a lot of us, we just gradually get wearier and wearier.

And the other thing he said is,

You tend not to get zapped in Christian ministry, but you often get sapped.

So in other words, you don't again have the big thing that knocks you out,

but just the regular working, serving the Lord, serving his people,

it can lead for us to times of weariness.

You may guess where I'm going now in the scripture.

Matthew chapter 11, the Lord Jesus says,

Matthew 11 · chapter mention

Come to me, oh, you are wearied and burdened,

and I will give you rest or I will refresh you.

The Lord doesn't say, I'm not going to stop you doing any work.

The Lord is saying, I'm going to come alongside you,

and I'm going to help you take my yoke upon you and learn from me,

for I am gentle and humble in heart,

and you will find rest, you will find refreshment for your souls.

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

And when we come across situations where we are wearier,

and I guess all of us involved in Christian service from time to time,

we experience that weariness.

It's good if we can know the presence of the Lord with us,

to reflect on the fact that he has been through a life of total devotion

to his Father and to serving others.

And he is willing to come alongside us and to teach us.

And when he does that, he will refresh us.

He will give us rest for our souls.

So we need refreshers.

We need refreshment because we get weary.

And then thirdly, I think we need refreshment from time to time

because we can get discouraged.

One of the greatest things, I think, that brings down people in Christian work

is when they've been doing something for a long time

and either not really seeing the results that they'd hoped for,

or whether something happens that seems to damage or destroy

the ministry they've been working on for a long time.

One of the things I particularly realised through being more involved

in the work in Pilton and Muir House

is how much the normal things that come across Christian workers

are there to an even greater extent

and can happen an awful lot more quickly.

A few years ago, Bridget and I went to a Scripture Union event.

And at that event, the programme had the story

of one of the young people from Muir House on the back.

And people were really thrilled at what God was doing.

And then just a fairly short time afterwards,

this particular young person decided

they didn't want to follow Jesus anymore

and that they weren't going to live as a Christian.

And you can imagine for those involved in a work like that,

you've got someone who seems to be doing really well

and then suddenly they've gone back.

And you see that quite regularly, I think,

in the kind of work that John and Peter and the others

are involved in Muir House.

And just from time to time,

you can just see their heads going down a little bit

if there's been a few things on the go

and then they revive, they get encouraged again

and they pick up.

And for all of us, there is that danger of discouragement.

If you're really involved, you're really passionate

about a work for the Lord,

there is a danger at times you will get quite discouraged in it.

A couple of verses from the Old Testament.

I'm slightly shorned in here,

but there are ones I wanted to refer to this evening.

I think they probably fit in this context.

Psalm 23.

This is the NIV translation.

He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside quiet waters.

He refreshes my soul.

The traditional version, of course,

he restores my soul means very much the same thing.

So when we go through times of discouragement,

what should we do?

We should look to the Lord.

We should recognize that he is the one who is able to give us rest

and to refresh us.

Perhaps we should go away to the quiet place,

the quiet waters,

where he's able to speak to us

and to minister to us

and our souls will be refreshed.

And a few sounds back from that,

Psalm 19.

Psalm 19, which talks to us about the wonders of creation

and then talks to us about the greatness of the law.

And Psalm 19, verse 7 says,

Psalms 19:7

The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul.

So if we're discouraged, if we're finally going hard,

what do we do?

Get our Bibles out.

Look for what God has to say to us

and he from his word will encourage

and will strengthen and will revive us.

The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul.

Okay, so that by kind of way of a quite long introduction.

Let's look now at some examples of refreshers

from the New Testament,

and particularly these two men.

It's Philemon actually rather than Onesimus

is the one Paul talks about refreshing others

and then Onesiphorus.

What are the characteristics that people might have

if we call them refreshing?

Now I think most of us will have a few of these,

probably not all of them,

so it's not by any means you have to have all of these

to be able to refresh anybody,

but they're the kind of things

that might be a characteristic of those

who refresh others.

So I'm suggesting first of all

that refreshers love people.

First verse we read from Philemon,

Your love has given me great joy and encouragement

because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts

of the Lord's people.

And Paul very much emphasizes Philemon's love

for the people of God in this short book.

So I suggest refreshers love people.

Now, as Christians, all of us should love people.

We love God, we love our brothers and sisters,

we love those who don't yet know the Lord Jesus,

our neighbours in the world round about us.

But some of us are better at expressing our love

through service,

and others are better at expressing their love

through interacting with others.

Some of us are kind of, by nature, backroom people,

others are much better at talking to people,

at encouraging, at refreshing them.

One of the things that kind of excises

the minds of the elders quite a lot,

we had a discussion with John and Rachel about it

just last week,

is how we welcome and integrate people into the church.

And one of the things that really concerns us

is if people come into the church

and they sit through the service and go out again,

and they don't really have anyone talking to them

or interacting with them.

Now for some of us, that is quite a difficult thing to do,

to interact.

We have to really kind of force ourselves

to go up and talk to strangers.

Other people are really good at it,

and I'm not saying it's easy for them,

but it seems to come a lot more straightforwardly to them.

They have that gift that they can interact well with people.

I'm blessed with a wife who's like that,

and quite often I'm able to go along

when she's talked to someone,

and I can kind of get the introduction

without having to make the first approach myself.

And that's quite a good thing to do.

But some people, I think,

are really good at talking to those whom they don't know.

And some of us not so good,

but we need to make a bit of effort.

So there's one thing all of us could try to do.

But in the particular context of Philemon,

the way Philemon showed his love,

especially to the people in Colossae,

was he had the church,

he had his home,

in his home.

He had the people along,

he showed them hospitality.

And that ministry of hospitality

is something that is really important

and is really valuable.

And again,

from a discussion with Johnny and Rachel on Tuesday,

we will be making some suggestions

over the next week while

about how we as a church

could be better perhaps

at showing hospitality,

particularly to new people

when they come.

Now there are lots of people already

in this church

who are very good

at showing hospitality.

And again,

I'm going to,

hopefully not be divisive

by sending me out people,

but I wanted to mention Ian and Nan,

and I wanted to mention Ian and Nan particularly,

because when our kids

were a little bit younger

a few years ago,

they made a point

of inviting them out

separately from us.

So it wasn't,

we were invited along

and the kids kind of

came along with us.

Ian and Nan

invited our children together,

gave them some identity

and had something suitable

for them that evening.

Now lots of others said

very good hospitality,

I'm sure equally thoughtful

in the way you go about it.

But it's a really great ministry

and a way to show

God's love to others

and to refresh them

in their Christian life.

Refreshers love people.

Second thing I suggest

is that refreshers

recognize God's work.

Refreshers look at something

and they can say,

I can really see God

at work here

and I'm rejoicing in it.

That's what Paul's relying on

with Philemon.

Philemon's got this slave,

Onesimus,

who appears to have run away

and perhaps stolen something

from Philemon.

And Paul is sending

Onesimus back

and saying,

Philemon,

he's become a Christian,

he's now a brother

in the Lord,

will you receive him back?

And fairly clearly,

Paul is also saying,

well not directly,

will you receive him back

but not as a slave, please?

He's now your brother

rather than being a slave.

He does it very cleverly.

And we read how Paul says

that Philemon refreshes

the hearts of God's people.

A little bit later on,

Paul says,

Onesimus is my heart.

And then second part we read,

Paul says,

refresh my heart.

So very much directing Philemon

to say you receive Onesimus back

and you rejoice

in what God has done

in his life.

And I'm quite sure Philemon did.

But it would have been easy

for someone in his situation

to say,

so Onesimus managed

to get around Paul.

He's pretended to be a Christian.

I'm going to have nothing

to do with him.

And very important

that he was able to see

that God had worked

in Onesimus' life

and to be able to receive him

as a brother

in the Lord Jesus.

There's another example

Paul gives of refreshers.

Next we read from Romans chapter 15.

Romans 15 · chapter mention

He says,

this is writing to church in Rome,

pray that I may be kept safe

from the unbelievers in Judea

and that the contribution

I take to Jerusalem

may be favorably received

by the Lord's people there

so that I may come to you

with joy

by God's will

and in your company

be refreshed.

And actually probably better

translated at the end of that,

we can be refreshed together.

That's the sense of the word

that Paul uses.

So why are they going to be refreshed

when Paul comes to Rome?

Well it is Christian fellowship

and enjoying being with one another.

But I think particularly

it is because of what Paul

believes and hopes

will have happened

in Jerusalem.

So there's the one thing

about being preserved

from those who are

against the gospel.

But more significantly here

I think that Paul

is looking for the favorable

reception by God's people.

Paul had gone round

the churches

of the ancient world

and he said to them

there's a famine in Judea,

it would be really good

if you could help out financially.

And some of them

had given spontaneously

and generously

like the church in Philippi.

Others had given

perhaps more reluctantly

with a bit of a prod

like the church in Corinth.

But Paul had collected

a significant amount

that he could take back

to Jerusalem.

But there was a real danger

that Paul might have

got to Jerusalem

and the church at Jerusalem

would have said

this is Gentile money,

we can't receive it.

We are Jews,

they are Gentiles,

we are not going to take

the money

that they have given

for us.

And Paul is praying

that the Christians

in Jerusalem

will recognize

that God has been at work

in the Gentile world,

that he has brought

many there to know him

and to trust in the Lord Jesus

and that he has laid

on their hearts

to share fellowship

with their brothers

and sisters in Judea.

And if the Christians

in Jerusalem

recognize that God

had been at work

in the Gentile church

and rejoiced in the fact

that they had given them

this gift,

then Paul would have been

really refreshed

in his ministry.

And every indication

I think that that is

what happened

with the church

in Jerusalem.

If the church

had refused

to accept the money

and refused

to see God's work in it,

then it would have been

really discouraging

for Paul

in what he had done.

What does that mean for us?

It means that we should look

at what people are doing

for the Lord

and sometimes we'll look

at it and say,

well, I wouldn't do it

that way.

That's not the way

we've done it in the past

or that's not the modern

way of doing it,

whatever.

Look at what people

are doing for the Lord

and say,

is the Lord in it?

And if the Lord is in it,

we should rejoice

as we recognize God

at work.

One of the things

I find quite encouraging

at Brantzfield,

a few times I've heard

people say,

well, I'm not that happy

with some of the things

that are being done

at the moment.

It's not the way

I would do it,

but God is clearly

at work and so as a church

we're moving forward

and we can rejoice together.

Really important

that we recognize God's work

and when we see someone

doing God's work

that we encourage them in it,

even if it's not necessarily

the way that we would have

gone about it ourselves.

So refreshers,

recognize God's work.

I'm going to move on

to look at Onesiphorus now,

so we're moving on

to 2 Timothy

and we have three points

from him

that I want to think about.

And the first one is

that refreshers are there

when you need them.

Paul is in Rome.

Paul is in prison in Rome.

He's going through,

certainly in a physical sense,

the lowest period

of his life.

He knows that he's coming

towards the end.

He knows it's very likely

that he'll end up

being executed

and when he's in Rome

he finds everyone

is not wanting

to associate with him.

Those who had been involved

in some way

in his ministry,

he mentions people

like Phygelus

and Hermogenes

and he mentions

the whole province of Asia

having rejected him.

These people,

when Paul was going

through his most difficult time,

they weren't there for him.

They weren't willing

to stand with him

when it came to the crunch

and he was on trial

for his life.

Onesiphorus comes along

and he's not ashamed

of Paul's chains.

He recognizes the work

that Paul has done

that has been of the Lord

and he recognizes

the benefit he's had,

no doubt,

from Paul

in his own life

and he's determined

that he's going to spend

time with Paul

and to help him

during his time

in prison.

So important,

isn't it,

that when people

are going through

times of difficulty,

that we're there

standing with them.

Think of a few Christians

who have gone through

quite difficult periods

in their lives

and quite often

they look back,

I'm not saying

this is a good thing too,

but it does happen,

quite often they look back

and they'll think

this person

and that person,

they supported me

and they were there

for me,

but actually these people

when I was going

through times of difficulty

they were nowhere

to be seen,

they were no help

at all.

And sometimes the people

who were the most help

were people you wouldn't

have expected

and the ones

who weren't very helpful

were people

who you might have expected

to be more involved

in helping them.

Very important

if we are Christians

that we stand together

in the Lord Jesus.

We're not just

fair weather friends,

happy to associate

with others

when it's an easy thing

to do,

when it's very pleasant

to do it,

but not around

when people really

need us.

Onesiphorus,

the refresher,

he was there

when Paul

really needed him.

Second point

about Onesiphorus

is that refreshers

go the extra mile.

Refreshers are willing

to go above

and beyond

what might be

expected of them.

Onesiphorus

comes to Rome

and he can't find

Paul very easily.

Not very clear

why he couldn't

find Paul very easily

but it was a bit

difficult to find him.

And you can imagine

a lot of people

that have spent

a little time

asking around

and perhaps

searching for Paul

and when they

couldn't find him

they've said,

well,

I've made my effort,

I've done my best,

I'll go on now

and I could tell

people he just

wasn't available

to find.

Onesiphorus

doesn't like that.

He goes around,

I don't know if he

says to people,

where's the prisoner,

have you seen Paul,

whatever,

and he goes around

and with great difficulty

he eventually

finds Paul.

And when he finds

Paul,

he just doesn't

make a token visit

and go once

and try to

encourage him

and then go away

and go about

his business

after that.

Rather,

Paul says,

he often

refreshed me,

he often refreshed me

and was not ashamed

of my chains.

here was a man

who was really

willing to put

himself out

for Paul

to go the extra

mile

to serve

the servant

of the Lord.

And important

for us too

to be like that.

Extra mile

is a great phrase,

of course,

it's from the Lord

Jesus himself

encouraging people

if they're forced

by a Roman soldier

to carry a burden

for one mile

to go the second mile.

I can just imagine

the Roman soldier

used to people

cursing

and being very

reluctant to go

even the first mile

and if someone

then volunteers

and says,

actually,

I'll take you home,

I'll go the second mile

with you,

what a refreshing thing

that must have been

for them

in their work

as a Roman soldier

thinking it was

not so bad

after all

with these people

in Judea.

And very good

important for us

that we are willing

to go

the extra mile

in serving God.

Embarrassment time

again,

example here,

lots of examples

of the church

but I'm going to pick

out Pete and Terry.

Pete and Terry

involved in loads

of things in the church.

If anything comes up

that we ask for volunteers,

almost always

they're among the first

to volunteer for it

and even when

they're not asked

then they see things

that need done

and they just do them.

And it's great

to have people like that

and there are others

in Brunsfield,

great to have people

like that

who don't say,

well I will do this

and this

and then I think

I've done my share

for the church.

I've done my duty,

I've done as much

as most people

and that's it.

We need people

who are willing

to go the extra mile

and to serve

selflessly

and with real servant hearts

for the Lord Jesus

in the church

and that is what

really encourages

the leadership of churches

or any kind of Christian work

when we see people

growing in their faith

and willing to serve

others

rather than look

for their own comfort.

Let's be people

who go that extra mile.

And then the final point

about Onesiphorus

refreshers leave you

feeling better.

Now it would have been

possible for Onesiphorus

to go around Rome

to do all his

searching for Paul

to go and visit him

fairly regularly

and when he got to see Paul

he could have said

something like this

well it's been really hard

finding you Paul.

I've spent hours

wandering these dusty

hot streets

being quite dangerous

talking to people

about you

because they might

not like me

associating with you

and I found it really hard

coming here.

And the church in Ephesus

were really not doing

very well.

Timothy's got a bit

too big for his boots.

He's just a young man

but he thinks he can

tell us what to do

and he says he does it

with your authority

but no one really

believes that.

We've got people

coming in,

false teaching,

all sorts of things

going on.

It's really quite

discouraging.

And there are people

like that

in Christian circles

and churches.

There are people

when you talk to them

they're always

complaining.

They're always

unhappy with their lot.

They're always

complaining about

other people

about leadership

or other people

in the church

and that seems

to be the way

they almost live

their Christian lives.

And you almost

go away feeling

really weary

from talking to them

rather than feeling

encouraged.

Really good

if as Christians

when we get together

we can be

encouragers,

refreshers

of one another.

Now I don't know

what Onesiphorus

said to Paul

but I would imagine

that when he came

to Paul

he would take an

interest in Paul's

situation

what were his needs

was there anything

he could do

to help with them.

They talk I'm sure

about the Lord Jesus

and about the suffering

of the Lord

and how our suffering

however bad it seems

there's nothing

compared with that

and all that he was

willing to do for us.

Perhaps they look

forward to heaven

knowing that Paul's

life was nearly

at an end

and looking forward

to the joy

it would be

to be received

and to receive

the crown of righteousness

that was in store for him.

I don't know

that kind of thing.

Showing an interest

in Paul

and talking with him

about the Lord

and about spiritual things

and that is the way

that we should be

with one another

if we really want

to refresh each other

in our Christian work.

Not complaining

not grumbling

and not depressing

one another

but rather trying

to encourage

and strengthen

one another

in our Christian faith.

Lots of examples

of that too

I'm going to pick

on Graham.

Graham's actually

gone out with

the young people

this evening.

Graham I've lost

quite a number of times

people have come to me

and they've said

something like

that Graham

he's a really nice

young man.

Now it's usually

ladies of a certain

vintage who said that

and I think

it doesn't sound

a very spiritual comment

to begin with

but I think

actually it is

because what

they've noticed

is that Graham

makes time for them

even if he's running

around busy

this morning

and he takes

a couple of minutes

just to speak

and ask how they are

that he's interested

in them

and he's got

something spiritual

to help them with.

Now again

lots of other people

I could have chosen

but really good

if we can be

these kinds of people

who take an interest

in others

and when we go away

they say

that was really good

it was good

to talk about the Lord

and to be able

to share

my thoughts

and my issues

with somebody else

I feel a lot better

from that conversation.

Refreshers

leave you

feeling

better.

Some unlikely refreshers

refreshers

the church

in Corinth

the church

in Corinth

was Paul's

problem child

you read the two

epistles to the

Corinthians

and you think

what a terrible church

there are so many

problems

one after the other

there's immorality

there's snobbishness

there's all sorts

of things going on

that you think

this is a church

that is really

going through

difficult times

and Paul must have

been really

depressed

about it

and Paul writes

his first letter

he then says

another letter

which isn't

kept for us

in scripture

that was really

hard

firm letter

and then he sends

Titus to see them

and Titus to go

and try to work out

where the church

is spiritually

now it's still

not perfect

read 2nd Corinthians

and there's still

loads of problems

there

but this is what

Paul says

about Titus'

visit

in addition to

our own

encouragement

we were especially

delighted to see

how happy Titus

was

because his spirit

has been

refreshed

by all of you

I have posted

to him about you

and you have

not embarrassed

me

so church

with lots of

issues

and lots of

things that

we would look at

and say

that's not

very satisfactory

and yet actually

when Titus went

there he could

see God

is at work

these people

are growing

in their faith

and I'm really

refreshed

and encouraged

and everything

that Paul said

about how good

they are

it's true

despite all the

issues

it's true

they are God's

people

I am refreshed

I am happy

because of them

again great

if people

coming among us

can come to us

and can say

I came here

I'd heard about

the church

at Bransfield

I heard you

got a good

welcome

I heard there

were some

fine Christians

here

I came

and it was

true

I was really

refreshed

from meeting

with God's

people

and sharing

with them

refreshers

leave you

feeling better

so five

simple points

refreshers

love people

we should be

those

who take

an interest

in others

and are

willing to

take when

they're

visitors

or people

others

don't talk

to

them

we recognize

God's work

we rejoice

in what God

is doing

even as not

being done

the way

that we

would have

done it

we're there

when people

need us

we're willing

to go that

extra mile

and we

leave people

feeling better

from having

had some

interaction

with us

let me

finish with

this

and this

is why

I've been

to a

limited extent

this evening

naming names

this is what

Paul writes

again to

Corinthians

1 Corinthians

he says

I was glad

when Stephanus

Fortunatus

and Achaius

arrived

because they

have supplied

what was

lacking

from you

for they

refresh my

spirit

and yours

also

such men

deserve

recognition

now we don't

know what

these guys

have been

doing

and they've

obviously

done some

good work

in Corinth

and they

visited

Paul perhaps

and passed

on the

greetings

of the

Corinthian

Christians

and been

able to

help him

in the

way that

the others

hadn't

but Paul

says

people like

that

who just

go about

quietly

doing

Christian

work

encouraging

strengthening

others

refreshing

others

in their

faith

these

people

deserve

recognition

I'm not suggesting

we should have a

refresher of the month

board or anything

like that

but really good

within a church

and I've only mentioned

a few this evening

if there's someone

you think

some of these things

Ian's talked about

this evening

I really see them

in that person

go and tell them

encourage them

and recognize

what the Lord

is doing

in their

lives

again it's

something I will

encourage and

refresh them

and we'll guard

against the

weariness

discouragement

and so on

that we've

talked about

we should be

good at

recognizing our

Christian brothers

and sisters

the work of

the spirit

and what they

are doing

in building

God's church

and in

refreshing us

in our

ministry

so more

refreshers

please

is the

message

to see

think about

how you can

serve others

in the church

how you can

encourage and

strengthen them

in their faith

how you can

refresh them

when perhaps

they're flagging

then as a church

we'll be really

revitalized

and we'll have

a real joy

in serving the

Lord

and in living

for him

in our city

let's pray

together

Father we thank you

for your word

we thank you for

these two men

we thought about

and

I leave them

particularly

and Onesiphorus

we thank you

that they were

men who refreshed

others

who were

loving

who were

caring

who went

the extra

mile

who were

willing to

recognize

the work

that you

did

who left

others

feeling

better

for having

met them

we pray

that you

will help

us to be

like that

that we

may have

a ministry

of refreshment

in our church

that all of us

may be able

to support

and strengthen

one another

and that through

that we may

have a real

joy in the

Lord

we recognize

that ultimately

the work of

refreshment

is your work

it comes to

us through

the Spirit

and it's only

by the work

of the Spirit

changing our

lives

that we can

too become

refreshers

we pray to you

take your word

take what is

from yourself

use it

in our hearts

and our lives

that we live

lives that are

more honoring

to the Lord

Jesus

and more like

the perfect

life that he

lived

we give you

our thanks

in his name

Amen